Last night we had the family over for a big Christmas party. I love having people over during the holidays – I get to show off my Christmas decorations, serve my favorite snack foods, and most importantly, have a good time with the people I love. There were 16 people total, so of course there was lots and lots of food! I made 2 big batches of my toasted oatmeal cookies, a batch of M&M cookies, spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and peppermint bark (to name a few).

Toasted Oatmeal Cookies

Peppermint Bark

Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

M&M Cookies

My sister brought her famous “soggy sandwiches” (you assemble a bunch of turkey and cheese sandwiches, put them all in a big jelly roll pan,  pour melted butter over the tops, sprinkle with Italian seasoning, and bake for 5 minutes until the cheese melts – sinful!!), my Aunt Josie brought a chocolate roll-up cake, and Nana brought crockpot cocktail weenies. And my sweet Grandaddy brought me a big, beautiful Poinsettia! Some of my favorites from the party include:

Sausage balls – SO good! It absolutely would not be a party in our family without these babies! Recently, my sister found that adding milk makes them a lot more moist. We love to use maple sausage – it adds such great flavor!

Sausage Balls
3 cups Bisquick baking mix
1 pound maple pork sausage
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
pinch Cayenne Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl (it’s easiest if you have a Kitchen Aid mixer – use the dough hook), roll into 1 inch balls and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the balls are golden brown. Cool completely.

My mom’s Christmas Wassail – just like the sausage balls, it really wouldn’t be Christmas without this wassail. My mom’s been making it every single Christmas since the  ’80’s and every year we look forward to it! It simmers for 2 hours, so the entire house smells heavenly! Keep the container that your apple cider came in to store any leftover wassail; then just pour yourself individual cups and microwave anytime you want hot wassail!

Christmas Wassail
2 quarts apple cider
1 46-oz. can pineapple juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon allspice
15-20 cloves, stuck into an orange or apple
3-5 cinnamon sticks

Combine all ingredients in a large pot or crockpot on high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours.
*You’ll notice all kinds of stuff floating around in my picture – I added some Williams Sonoma mulling spices that I had on hand; it’s not needed, though.

And finally, my favorite – Granna’s Green Stuff. This is seriously the best stuff ever – fluffy…creamy…….green. Originally, my great-grandmother would always make this every Christmas, now her daughter-in-law, my grandmother (Granna), makes it a lot, as we request it a LOT! It’s GOOD!! This recipe is as close as I can get to my great-grandmother’s recipe – she never would tell anyone what was in it! I’m pretty sure this is it, though…

“Green Stuff” (It’s really called Lime Jello Salad, but we’ve always known it as green stuff)

1 (3 oz.) pkg. lime Jello
1 c. hot water

(Heat up drained pineapple juice for part of liquid.)
Mix. Stir until well dissolved. Set until jelly-like consistency then carefully whip with electric mixer.

1/2 pkg. (4 oz.) cream cheese
1 can (15 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c. chopped pecans
1 c. whipping cream

Whip cream until stiff. Add cream cheese. Mix in Jello and blend thoroughly. Fold in pineapple and nuts. Put into a serving bowl and chill for at least 4 hours.

Just look at that fluffy green goodness!! Anyway, we had an absolutely delightful party last night – thanks to everyone who came and brought delicious food and great company!

Well, this has been one crazy week. We are opening Carmen Saturday night and the rehearsals have been nuts lately! BUT- it’s going to be one fantastic show…this is by far the best opera I’ve ever been in- I’ve enjoyed it the most, too (regardless of the hard work). For those of you who don’t know the story of Carmen, here is a little background.

It’s definitely been a long couple of days. We started dress rehearsals Tuesday and I have three costume changes – one of which is a big, black, velvet Spanish lady costume with a ginormous Mantilla on my head that feels like it weighs about 50 pounds. It’s hotter than hades up on stage, too, which doesn’t help matters. My wig looks like something that came out of grandma’s attic and there’s a fall that attaches to the back, making it look like I have a jerry curl mullet. I have to smoke a fake cigarette, which I’m sure looks incredibly awkward since I’ve never smoked a day in my life and really have no idea how to hold it and look semi-natural.  BUT – it’s all worth it to be a part of this amazing show – the music is fun to sing, the lady who plays Carmen is fantastic – you can’t take your eyes off of her! – and there’s an overall sense of pride being a part of something so magnificent.

Anyway, in honor of this weekend’s big premier, I thought a little Sangria might be fitting. I *love* sangria. Love, love, love it! I made this recipe the other night with quesadillas and black bean salad- so refreshing and delicious! Now that summer is on its way, I have a feeling there will be lots of pitchers of sangria!

This recipe is pretty straight forward – I didn’t use the traditional shot or two of brandy, but it was still pretty tasty!

Red Wine Sangria

One bottle of your favorite red wine (I used Menage a trois)
2 or 3 cups Ginger Ale (however much you want, really- I didn’t measure, I just poured some in!)
2 blood oranges, sliced
2 lemons, sliced
A handful of sliced strawberries (again – however much you like)
One package frozen peaches, thawed, with their juice

Mix everything together in a large pitcher and chill until ready to serve. *If you want to be really cute and clever, you can freeze some grapes to use as ice cubes.

Everybody wish me luck for Saturday! Here’s hoping I don’t fall on my face, drop my fake cigarette, or my jerry curl mullet partially fall off and dangle to one side (again….). Enjoy your weekend!

One of our favorite restaurants, Texas de Brazil, has a signature drink that hubby and I love to order everytime we go – its called a Caipirinha. Or as my mom likes to call it- a “grown up limemade” – made from fresh limes, sugar and sugar cane rum – this has got to be one of the most refreshing cocktails I’ve ever tasted.

Well, hubby had had a pretty rough day at work, and I thought it might be a nice treat to come home to a nice cold “grown up limemade” (that’s what I’ll just refer to them as from now on, mmkay?) It was a little tricky to find Sugar Cane Rum, but I must say, well worth it! The recipe is so incredibly easy, and the result – so incredibly relaxing! Hubby enjoyed two of them (like I said, it was a hard day!)! I think now we’ve found our new “go-to” cocktail!

The Caipirinha (fondly referred to as “Grown Up Limemade”)

Sugar Cane Rum (such as Cachaca, or whatever kind you can find!)
1 lime, cut into 8 small pieces
Simple Syrup (I used 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water and ended up with plenty)
Crushed ice

Put the lime pieces in a glass and crush with a pestil until all the juice is worked out; pour desired amount of simple syrup over the limes (I used probably around a tablespoon, but you can use more depending on how sweet or sour you like it). Add the ice, then pour a shot or two of the rum into the glass (also depending on how strong you like it – I didn’t add a whole heck of a lot, but you certainly can!) Give the glass one last stir and serve! Mmmmm!!

The weather has been perfect – no clouds, no rain, a slight breeze and sun, sun, sun! Just like a typical day in the Caribbean (where we spent our honeymoon!)! The perfect kind of weather for a fruity, cold, BEACHY drink!! After asking my lovely What’s Cooking Nestie friends (naturally) for their “beachy” drink ideas – this is what I ended up with:

Parrot Bay Cruiser

3 oz. Orange Juice
2 oz. Pineapple Juice
1 1/4 oz. Coconut Rum

Mix together and pour over lots of ice! And don’t even think about serving this without a cute little umbrella!! Cheers!!

Our new favorite summer drink!! I can’t believe neither of us had never tried this – or better yet, thought of it ourselves! So simple, yet so DEEEELICIOUS!! This was the perfect “beachy” drink – it reminded us of some of the yummy coctails we had on our honeymoon in St. Lucia! It was a perfect start to our “Caribbean honeymoon-themed” meal! (Fish sandwiches just like we ate every day at the beach bar – see below post!)  Enjoy!!